TV9 (Malaysia)

TV9 is a Malaysian free-to-air television network, launched on 22 April 2006 as a subsidiary of Media Prima Berhad. It formerly existed as Channel 9, which began airing on 9 September 2003 and was closed on 1 February 2005 due to financial difficulties faced by the operator.

TV9
Launched22 April 2006 (2006-04-22)
Owned byMedia Prima
Picture format1080i HDTV (16:9)
SloganDi Hatiku
CountryMalaysia
LanguageMalay
English
Broadcast areaNationwide
HeadquartersSri Pentas, Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Formerly calledChannel 9 (2003 - 2005)
Sister channel(s)
Websitewww.xtra.com.my
(Merged into Tonton Xtra's site, formerly tv9.com.my)
Availability
Terrestrial
myFreeviewChannel 109 (SD)
Satellite
AstroChannel 149
Astro NJOIChannel 149
IPTV
Unifi TVChannel 109 (HD)
Streaming media
tontonWatch live
(Malaysia only) (HD)

The channel operates from 6:00 am to 1:00 am the next day, except during the holy month of Ramadan, when it broadcasts round the clock. On 1 May 2019, TV9 started broadcasting 24 hours a day.

TV9 airs programming that tends mostly towards the Malay demographic. It also has a joint segment with American children-oriented channel Nickelodeon on afternoons airing the latter's animated shows albeit dubbed in Malay, as Nick di 9.

History

As Channel 9
Channel 9 old logo
Old Channel 9 Headquarters at Shah Alam, Selangor

Channel 9 was launched under the entity of Medanmas Sdn. Bhd on 9 September 2003, broadcasting daily from 8:00 am to 3:00 am daily. Its workforce mostly consisted of the former MetroVision employees. At the time of its establishment, its headquarters was located at Temasya Industrial Park in Shah Alam, Selangor. The channel's line-up consisted of programmes in English, Mandarin, Malay, Teochew, Cantonese, Taiwanese, Japanese & Tamil. It also featured a TV Shopping programme.[1] Anaza Sdn Bhd, the then-operator of THR.fm, acquired Channel 9 from Medanmas Sdn. Bhd.

Under the new management, slots are dedicated for Hindi music and entertainment programmes which aired from 16:00 to 18:00 local time daily, Tamil music and entertainment programmes which aired from 18:00 to 20:00 local time daily, Malaysian language television news programme called Liputan 9 (literally: 9 Coverage) - which aired from 20:00 to 20:30 local time daily, Indonesian sinetron programmes which aired from 20:30 to 21:30 local time daily, Asian Chinese music and entertainment programmes known as Zhong Hua Shi Jie which aired from 21:30 to 00:30 local time every Monday to Thursday, and English music and entertainment known as Treats which aired from 13:00 to 16:00 local time every Saturday to Sunday.

Channel 9 officially closed on 3 February 2005 to restructure its debts and corporate organisation and due to intense competitions from the other free-to-air television stations in Malaysia during that time. On the same day, Malaysia's largest media corporation, Media Prima Berhad announced its acquisition of 100% equity stake in Ch-9 Media Sdn Bhd and almost completed the company's ownership of all commercial free-to-air television stations in Malaysia.

Renamed as TV9

Channel 9 was renamed as TV9, with test transmission commenced on Saturday, 1 April 2006 with 4-hour broadcasts from 8:00 pm to midnight daily and airing music videos mostly in Malay. Full launch of the channel began at noon of 22 April 2006 with 13-hour broadcasts from 12:00 pm to 1:00 am daily and a new slogan: Dekat di Hati (Malay for Close at heart).

On New Year's Day 2010, the channel launched a new tagline, Di Hatiku (At your heart in Malay).

For the first months of broadcast, TV9 did not have its in-house news bulletin, except for Edisi 7 simulcasts from NTV7. TV9 began to produce news bulletins on New Year's Day 2007, under the Berita TV9 (literally: TV9 News) brand. It is currently broadcasting two half-hour editions: a midday edition at 1:00 pm Saturday to Thursday, and its flagship nightly edition at 8:00 pm.

TV9 is available via terrestrial television in Peninsular Malaysia. Since 28 December 2006, it expanded its coverage to Sabah and Sarawak via pay television provider Astro Malaysia.

Criticism

Inclusion of home shopping blocks

Since 1 April 2016 Media Prima included home shopping block CJ WOW Shop, collaboration between them and Korean conglomerate CJ Group, to all of its channels lineup, including TV9. It currently airs on this channel from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm (with buffer periods at 1:00 pm from Monday to Thursday to accommodate Berita TV9 Tengah Hari). Such long periods of teleshopping blocks has make this channel known as a part time TV shopping channel. This block, however, attracted huge criticism by viewers through social media due to overtaking a large part of daytime schedule, previously running mostly reruns, religious programming and children's programming.[2][3][4][5] On 4 March 2018, Friday to Sunday breakfast show Nasi Lemak Kopi O (which formerly occupied the first two hour block of CJ WOW Shop) ended its 10 year run; thus gave the home shopping block a weekend extension.

On 5 March 2018, TV9 revamped its programming lineup to solely focus on rural Malay communities in order to reduce viewership. Media Prima did so as part of its television revamp which saw its channels aligning with a specific core audience. Korean and English programmes aired on the channel were then transferred to the NTV7, which also revamped on the same day to serve the "Modern Malaysia" audience.

From 31 December 2018, Media Prima made a major restructuring overhaul among all of its channels, as well as few rumoured job losses. Tanyalah Ustaz and Indonesian dramas were moved to the main TV3 so they can extend CJ Wow Shop's airtime at 6.00 AM to before afternoon news (excluding Friday) and 1.30 PM to 8.00 PM. Reruns of axed TV3 and NTV7 shows were also aired TV9 as NTV7 extended the Mandarin variant of CJ WOW Shop's airtime.[6]

See also

References
  1. Channel 9 official website
  2. "TV3 Malaysia". Facebook. 1 April 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  3. "TV9 di Hatiku". Facebook. 1 April 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  4. "ntv7 中文". Facebook. 1 April 2016. Archived from the original on 30 May 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  5. "CJ WOW SHOP mula 1 April". Harian Metro. 1 April 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  6. CJ WOW SHOP to Extend All-New Mandarin Segments on ntv7
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